Stage Mean no. (range) of:   Rhoptries Micronemes Dense granules Amylopectin Lipid Sporozoite 5.9 (2-11) 55 (40-78) 9.4 (5-15) 7.8 (3-13) 1.25 (1-3) Tachyzoite 6.7 (2-11) 25 (19-38) 9.1 (5-17) 2.4 (1-6) 0.6 (0-2) Bradyzoite 5.5 (2-8) 75.5 (36-112) 2.7 (1-5) 21.8 (7-38) 0 Sporozoites were freshly excysted from 34-day-old oocysts. Tachyzoites were obtained from the peritoneum of an IFN-γ knockout mouse 8 days after inoculation of tissue cysts. Bradyzoites were from cysts in the brains of mice at 8 months after inoculation of oocysts. It must be noted that tachyzoites and bradyzoites could both be present in the same parasitophorus vacuole indicating that stage conversion from tachyzoite to bradyzoite is asynchronous. Numbers represent means that were obtained by counting all organelles or inclusion bodies in 20 longitudinal sections of each type of zoite; ranges are given in parentheses

Table 24: Relative numbers of organelle and inclusion bodies in sporozoites, tachyzoites, and bradyzoites of the VEG strain of T. gondii (according to Dubey et al. [453]; with own modifications).